TreeHole Turn conversation into a diary, let your past self walk with you

This site comes out of my own experience with depression. You just talk about your day and how it feels; it writes that into a diary; and the next time you talk, the relevant past entries are pulled back into the conversation — so the version of you that already lived through something similar can sit with the version of you that's here now.

Enter TreeHole

Easier than journaling

You don't have to sit down and write. The conversation itself is the record — TreeHole quietly turns it into a readable diary.

Your past self in the room

Every time you talk, the AI retrieves the relevant past diary entries and brings them into the current conversation.

Encrypted at rest

All conversations and diaries are encrypted with AES-256-GCM. You can register with just a username — no real name needed.

Auto read-aloud

Each reply is spoken in a warm, natural voice as it finishes. Tap any message to hear it again.

Runs in the browser

On phone or desktop, nothing to install. Sign in with Google or with a username and password.

Why this site exists

I've lived with depression for nearly twenty years. I started on antidepressants ten years ago, and have been in counselling on and off for the last two. Outside help only reaches so far — it can hold the symptoms down, but it doesn't always get to the core.

What did reach me was rereading my own old diaries. It's not a stranger telling me what I "should" do; it's a past version of me — one who actually lived through something and came out the other side — telling the present me how I got through it. Nothing external can quite replace that.

The catch is that keeping a diary is tedious. Most people, including me, can't sustain it. So I built TreeHole — so that talking becomes the way diaries get written, and so that old entries come back on their own inside new conversations. I believe this is a way of pushing back against depression that actually works, and I'm sharing it.

How to use it

The whole thing is a loop:

  • Talk — like you would with a friend: today's events, today's mood.
  • Diary — TreeHole turns those conversations into a readable diary, saved by date.
  • Recall — next time you talk, the AI retrieves the related past entries and brings them into the current conversation, reminding you how a past you handled something similar.
  • Reread — you can also just open the diary and read your past self directly.

The result: today's venting becomes tomorrow's diary, and tomorrow's conversation brings the diary back. Your past self and your present self keep each other company here.

About the subscription

The large language model behind TreeHole is independently operated and not handed off to a third-party cloud. Keeping a system like this running has real ongoing costs; the subscription is there to share those costs so the site can stay around for the long term, and to give me room to keep refining it so it fits emotional-support conversations more closely.

Privacy & safety, built in

What you share here is among the most private writing there is, so the protection isn't bolted on afterwards — it's part of the design:

  • Encrypted at rest — every account's content is sealed with AES-256-GCM under its own key, so a lost disk or a stolen database stays unreadable without it.
  • Walled off per account — your conversations and diary are isolated at the data layer, so another person's search can never reach into yours.
  • Kept to a minimum — the raw, word-for-word transcript is short-lived: it lasts only long enough to become a diary, then it's purged (within 30 days). The diary memory is what stays.
  • Yours to erase — delete your account and everything goes with it — diary, search index, records — permanently.
  • A safety net in crisis — if a conversation shows signs of self-harm or crisis, TreeHole gently surfaces real helplines and never pretends to be a substitute for professional care.
  • Honest about the limits — the model runs on our own servers, not a third-party cloud. Content is encrypted at rest, but we hold the key and can technically decrypt it; we don't browse, sell, or share it — and we won't pretend "no one can ever see it." Details in the Terms & Privacy.

A few notes

Not a substitute for a therapist

TreeHole is a self-healing aid, not a medical service. If you are in crisis or having thoughts of harming yourself, please contact a professional helpline immediately (Australia Lifeline 13 11 14; Mainland China 12356; or your local emergency number).

Privacy

Username + password registration doesn't require a real name or email. Google sign-in ties the account to your email. Either way, all content is encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM and is not sold or shared.

Devices

Runs in the browser on phone or desktop — nothing to install. Native iOS and Android apps are in the works and will land soon, for everyday convenience.

Other languages

TreeHole was originally built for Chinese-language use and works equally well in English. Also available in: 中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Français · Español · Русский.